In northern Ukrainian Chernihiv, workers from the Ukrainian Elections Committee visiting remote corners of the country came upon four communities of Old Believers that had been totally isolated from civilization. The ancestors of the people in these communities fled here at the beginning of the 18th century in protest of the reforms that Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Peter were conducting in the Russian Orthodox Church. This news was reported by the agency "Vesty on-line" on 13 July 2002.
International scholarly expeditions doing research in Siberia and Altai, Russia, have come across Old Believers settlements a number of times. For over 300 years, these Old Believers have been living beyond the reach of the civilized world. They have their own calendar, which does not center around the birth of Christ but from "the creation of the world." Their lives are led in difficult labor and the study of ancient texts and prayers.
http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;1791/
